Chief Ndiweni defends Cecil John Rhodes

Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni has defended the renaming of Cecil Avenue to Cecil John Rhodes Avenue by the Bulawayo City Council calling it a preservation of part of our history.

Ndiweni who was responding in a Twitter conversation said, “We can’t erase history my brother only learn from it (sic). Everytime some of us go past the Mugabe sign we celebrate the lives that survived and the resilience it gave the region! The Cecil era is part of our history he lived amongst us in Matebelaland.”

Ndiweni’s comments were prompted by one Twitter user whose moniker is Zandatoto who had said, “Bulawayo City Council changed Leopold Takawira Road to King Mzilikazi Road. Interestingly Cecil Ave becomes Cecil John Rhodes Avenue. I know very few other men who have done horrible things to black people as Rhodes did, and worse he thought we were not human beings.”

On Wednesday, BCC announced that major roads that have been renamed include; Leopold Takawira Avenue (from Samuel Parirenyatwa Street to Umguza River Bridge along Gwanda Road) which is now King Mzilikazi Road, Nketa Drive is now Queen Lozikheyi Dlodlo Drive, Athlone Avenue is Simon Vengai Muzenda Road and 23rd Avenue is Landa John Nkomo Road.

Lobengula Street has been corrected to King Lobengula Street, together with Moffat Road in Hillside which has been corrected to Robert Moffat Drive and Leander Road in Hillside which is now Dr Leander Star Jameson.

Other roads that have been corrected are Coghlan Avenue which is now Charles Patrick Coghlan Avenue and Cecil Avenue which is now Cecil John Rhodes Avenue.

In defending the move to keep a number of colonial era names, Clr Moyo argued that this was meant to; “…preserve the richness of Bulawayo’s founding and colonial history.”